Undoing resilience: immigrant status and poor health following incarceration

Abstract

Background In the United States, foreign-born persons often have better health outcomes than their native-born peers, despite exposure to adversity. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether this pattern extends to the consequences of life events, such as incarceration, that separate immigrants from their supportive networks and increase exposure to adversity. Accordingly, using four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, hierarchical generalized linear models were used to examine within-individual changes in self-rated health following first incarceration (N = 31,202 person-waves). Results The results showed that incarceration was associated with modest health declines that were similar in magnitude for immigrant and native-born persons. Supplemental analyses revealed that these effects did not vary by immigrant race or ethnicity, or by age at immigration. The only exception was for immigrants from low- and middle-income countries, who were marginally less likely to experience health declines following incarceration. Conclusions In general, incarceration appears to be similarly health damaging for immigrants and non-immigrants. These findings raise important questions about how incarceration is linked to health declines for foreign- and native-born populations and emphasize the importance of access to healthcare for individuals released from correctional facilities. More research is needed, however, to further examine the cumulative impacts of incarceration on immigrants’ health across the life course, and to assess a broader spectrum of health outcomes.

Does the immigrant health advantage extend to incarcerated immigrants?

“…Are there nativity differences in health among incarcerated individuals by race/ethnicity or citizenship status? Extant literature has established that incarceration in immigrant detention ( Saadi et al, 2022 ; Singer et al, 2022 ; Von Werthern et al, 2018 ) and correctional facilities ( Kuper & Turanovic, 2021 ) are associated with mental health, infectious disease, and/or self-rated health. We extended upon this emerging body of work to show that there are differing patterns in physical health among incarcerated and non-incarcerated populations by nativity, race/ethnicity, and citizenship status.…”

“…One recent study has extended this research from immigrant detention facilities to correctional facilities. Kuper and Turanovic (2021) found that although immigrants have better self-rated health overall, prior incarceration in correctional facilities erodes the self-rated health of foreign-born individuals as it does for U.S.-born individuals. Nevertheless, it is not clear if disparities in physical health exist by immigration status and race/ethnicity among incarcerated individuals.…”

“…The current study builds upon existing research to evaluate chronic physical health conditions by immigration status among incarcerated men by nativity, with attention to race/ethnicity and citizenship, and compare results to the patterns observed in the general, non-incarcerated population. The present study is novel because (a) it assesses a population incarcerated in correctional facilities rather than immigrant detention facilities, where the vast majority of present work has been situated, and (b) it examines physical health outcomes rather than self-rated health, which is the outcome that the one study ( Kuper & Turanovic, 2021 ) on immigration and incarceration status differences in health among those in correctional facilities has examined. We address two research questions: Is there evidence of an immigrant health advantage among incarcerated individuals?…”

Trauma Made in America: The Consequences of Violent Victimization for Immigrant Youth in Early Adulthood

“…Assimilating into a new culture offers various opportunities for growth, development, and skill‐building that can increase adaptability and resilience among immigrants (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005; Trueba, 2002). Nonetheless, some recent work finds that the adaptability of foreign‐born persons may not be enough to protect against poor outcomes after some of the most negative life experiences (Kuper & Turanovic, 2021). Accordingly, the primary objective of this study is to examine the relationship between youth violent victimization and a host of adverse consequences in early adulthood for immigrants (i.e., poor health, depressive symptoms, low self‐esteem, suicidality, alcohol problems, drug use, property offending, and violent offending).…”